A major performance limitation of electrical interconnections is inductive noise encountered when one interconnects high-speed, high pin-out integrated circuit (IC) chips having many drivers that switch simultaneously. When a large number of drivers are active simultaneously, a substantial transient current passes through the inductance of the ground and power distribution systems, causing a noise spike to emerge on the power and ground lines. The resulting fluctuation of the power and ground voltage levels can cause false switching of devices with an accompanying error or loss of data. As "Fast interfaces for DRAMs," IEEE Spectrum, October 1992, pp. 52-57, shows, there exists a recognized need for improved interfaces between, e.g., DRAMs and processors, especially low cost interfaces that can have low power dissipation.
Various techniques for reducing inductive switching noise on ground leads are known. They include the use of balanced IC driver circuits. However, conventional balanced IC driver circuits typically dissipate twice the power of corresponding unbalanced drivers. This clearly is a significant disadvantage. As can be seen from "Fast Interfaces for DRAMs" and problems experienced in the field, there is a long felt need for a technique which will drive a circuit, produce a minimal amount of inductive noise and dissipates a minimal amount of power.
Recently, a balanced driver circuit with reduced power dissipation was disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/895767 entitled "Balanced Driver Circuit For Eliminating Inductive Noise" filed on Jun. 9, 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference. The circuit of the '767 application can reduce the power dissipation of a balanced driver to the level of that of an unbalanced driver, but has the drawback of requiring additional off-chip components. It would be highly desirable to have available a balanced driver circuit that can have still lower power dissipation, preferably without requiring additional components. This application discloses such a circuit.